unbiased experts has to be dispatched to the place where chemical weapons were used as well as to the airport where our american partners say, was used. as the starting point from which to took off the plane delivering the chemical weapons. we are not convinced that this was the case, nor are we convinced by the tv images or by the statements of people who were at the airport. there were no signs that would support the statement, the allegation, that chemical agent were used there at all. i'm sorry for taking so long to comment but i would like to underline that we are 100% sure

that if our colleagues at the u.n. as well as as the hague try to avoid this investigation, this will signify that they are reluctant to find out the truth but we will insist that the truth should be found. thank you in a political transition that leads to his own ouster? are war crimes charges on the table? and how long will the united states wait for russia to come around and your government and the united states government seem to be miles apart on the syria issue, on ukraine and other issues. did you feel that you cleared

up any of those issues you mentioned earlier today since you've had those discussions with secretary tillerson? >> we did discuss at length the future role for assad, whether it be a future political process or not. clearly, our view is that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end, and they have, again, brought this on themselves with their conduct through the war the past few years. we discussed our view that russia as their closest ally in the conflict perhaps has the best means of helping assad recognize this reality. we do think it's important that assad's departure is done in a orderly way. an orderly way so that certain interest and constituencies

that he represents that he represented at the negotiating table. how that occurs, we leave that to the process going forward. we do not think one has to occur before the other can begin, and it will take a pace of its own. but the final outcome in our view does not provide for a role for the assad -- for assad or for the assad family and the future governance of syria. we do not think the international community will accept that. we do not think the world will accept that. >> what about the war crimes? >> we discussed the issue that as time goes by and more and more evidence continues to be gathered, it is possible that the threshold necessary to charge individuals, including bashar al-assad may be achieved. as you know this is a very high legal hurdle in order to bring such charges against an individual, so i would not suggest to you that all of

that evidence is in place. but i think the longer time goes by, it's possible that the case will be made. and there are certain individuals who are working to make that case. >> i for one would like to say that i do not think that russia and the u.s. have segregated distance that cannot be reached on any agenda with regard to syria and ukraine. it's not impossible in our structure remarks with rex tillerson we mentioned the agreement that related not just the preserve but also to intensify the communication channels with regard to syria and ukraine for syria and bashar al-assad.

we have a political background, rex says, he prefers not to look into history but to deal with the matters tad. but the thing is the world was built in such a fashion that if we do not take lessons from the past, we will happily be able to achieve success in the present. and i recalled certain situations when groups groups of countries, primarily western countries were sort of fixated on eliminating this or that dictator or totalitarian leader in order to oust, president of yugoslavia, nato war in 1999 and gross violation of the un charter as

well as the health final. the station was formed, which incidentally has a crime, however, interprets the geneva convention, residential areas were shelled. the chinese embassy was also attacked. civil trains and bridges were bombed. the shelling went on for three months. and then they ran out of targets that could be qualified as double use facilities. there was another dictator, saddam hussein who was handing after the invasion, we know how this invasion was justified. since that, i think tony blare

was the only one to repent publicly admitting that it had been a fake. all the grounds for the iraq invasion. there was another one, khadaf khadafy. it happened that there was no place for this dictator in the country. it was served that democracy would prevail, but we know full well what is happening in libya right now. the libyan statehood has all but none existence. our president talked about that yesterday. right now we're going to restore the dbm statehood through the presence of national reconciliation. we're going to put an end to the situation and in which this country turned and the channel of human trafficking as your media reported today.

incidentally, there are other examples, not so recent. the president of sudan, there are has been a warrant for his arrest issued by the international court and several days later the obama administration decided that in order to settle this problem, saddam had to be split into two parts. south sudan was established and the obama administration tried to help them secure bashar's agreement to the splitting of president bashar held his end of the bargain. sudan was split into two parts

and of course was the obama administration's plan and right now, washington insisted that sanctions would be introduced against the country they helped create. so this fixation on trying to oust this or that dictator a authoritarian or totalitarian leader is well-known to us, and we know how it ends. a successful oust of a dictator is very hard to remember. if you have any examples, i would be glad if you could share them with me. on syria as our president has stated on many occasions, we are not trying to put out anyone on bashar al-assad or anyone else as they do in libya right now.

we want them to sit at one negotiating table as the council resolution states, they have all to gather together. this has to be a dialogue. and as the resolution states, the future syria has to be determined by the syrians themselves without any exemption. the most important thing is not to eliminate a political leader from the board so to speak, but to agree on how the country is going to be built. it has to be democratic. it has to be secular, which is something the negotiations committee speaks against. all ethnic and religious groups have to feel represented at government agencies. and only if such a consensus is achieved, which has to be done through elaborating a new

constitution. the issues related to certain personalities be settled without any tragic consequences either for the country or for the people. thank you. new speaker, please. >> thank you. i've got a question to secretary tillerson. have you talked today about the alleged interference of russia into the american election? >> in what way do you think russia's actions are different from the american actions in cyber security and in accordance with what the american media say the iranian nuclear program was compromised by american created violence right now. the u.s. is trying to prevent the north korea happening by using the same means.

and another question to both. a working group has been set up, are you talking about the work of the presidential commission? do you plan to do that? thank you. >> we touched briefly on the issue of cyber security and in particular the challenges that it is placing on everyone in terms of a new threat and emerging threat. but i think -- i do make a stinctn when cyber tools are used to interfere with internal decisions among countries as to how their elections are conducted. that is one use of cyber tools. cyber tools to disrupt weapons programs. that's another use of the tools. and i make a distinction between those two. clearly, this is an issue that has emerged in our time for which we have yet as an

international community come to some conclusion around how we want to respond to that. and so there will be further discussions, and it is on the agenda, and it is in the agenda that foreign minister passed on to me for us to have further discussions in the future. >> i can only confirm that we're both interested in fighting cyber crime. you have probably heard we said that on many occasions. 18 months ago and october 2015 the obama administration given concern about the activities of the so-called russian hackers, they started to pursue over the world without resorting to the legal procedures that exist between russia and the u.s.

they started to detain these hackers and prosecute them after extraditing them from countries. back then we said that we were not interested in our citizens being involved in these crimes, therefore we suggested that a special bilateral mechanism should be created that would exchange information in realtime about anyone trying to breach the international oral national norms of both russia and the u.s. the obama administration refused, they didn't respond then at the end of the obama administration in november last year. they proposed that we should meet certainly our relevant government agencies agreed but at the last moment, the obama administration changed their mind because they were

probably very, very interested in undermining the american/russian relations before the rival of the new administration in power. that's why we once again confirmed this interest of ours today. this is a relevant matter, and that is why we suggested that our contact should be resumed at the level of special and voice with the u.s. administration and the president. and also at the relevant authorities we feel that this time the result of these effortght be different leading to the establishment of new channels of communication. and what is your second question? the presidential commission. no, we have not yet touched upon this matter. it has been buried specked. but maybe it might be

resuscitated. we have some serious issues in our negotiations. it might not be under this umbrella structure, no. it might be in a different format. we have designated special persons who will sit down to look at our grievancecy, to look into those, and to look into how we can overcome these difficulties that exist. >> thank you. secretary tillerson, did you discuss today with president putin or foreign minister lavrov sanctions or other concessions that the united states might make in exchange for a change in behavior from the russian government? and also, speaking about what you just answered previously, did you present to president

putin or the foreign minister specific evidence the interfered in the russian election. and if the administration finds the assad government attacks his own people with chemical weapons, what will russia do? president putin says there abeffort to blame assad and plant evidence. did you present that evidence to secretary tillerson today? and would russia refuse to consider to agree to any circumstance that results in the ousting of bashar al-assad? >> we discussed no change in the status of sanctions that have been in place with russia as a result of certain actions taken in ukraine, as you know. incas to the question of the interference with the election, that is fairly well established inhe uted states, and i think that has been spoken to on the hill as well with congress. and it is a serious issue. it's one that wean is serious

enough to attract additional sanctions, so we're mindful of the seriousness of that particular interference in our elections, and i'm sure that russia is mindful of it as well. >> well, the secretary has certainty new sanctions certain at all. we have had a frank discussion about the issues on our agenda and importantly, we've got some difficulties with regards to the majority of those issues. now, as to this investigation reveals the government implication and chemical attacks a hypothetical, we do not want to speculate.

we've seen how speculation can bring results we see statements from the other representatives after the air strike against the air base. we do not want to speculate on what's really important on the serious matter of the use of chemical weapons and trying to exonerate anyone on the attempts that an attack of the use of chemical weapons. but for once, full compliance with american legislation, the russian laws, the legislation, the laws of any normal country. but the principle of innocent until proven guilty has to be respected. today, we sent an appeal to

the hague to conduct an unbiased transpor investigation. but we'll have to make necessary conclusions. now, as for the allegations that the u.s. government has irreputable proof that we interfered with the campaign, i will say once again we have not seen any facts, even hints at facts. we have not seen any evidence. no one has shown any evidence, even though we have requested on many occasions that these evidence has to be produced to us to support the allegations, the accusations we hear. we -- you understand that there are many people who want to undermine our relations to

pursue their internal or external political interest. but these are just games. we want to hear concrete proof, and then we'll respond accordingly. thank you. >> good evening. question to both ministers. do u.s. strike group with an aircraft carrier, has the issue been raised in your talks? and what are the risks that might entail? any questions for secretary tillerson if this group has been sensed to the korean peninsula to signify that the u.s. has some plans for military intervention in north korea? thank you. >> the strike group is roinely in the pacific

ocean. it's in the pacific, and its movements in the pacific are made in a way that's planned by the military planners. there is no particular objective in its current course. it sales up and down the pacific routinely, so i would not read anything into the carl vincent's current locations. >> the only thing i can say among other issues, we have discussed the situation on the korean peninsula, as far as i understand given all the new answers, we still have a common determination to resolve this issue through

peaceful means of the korean peninsula through diplomatic talks. undertaken by the participants of what used to be called the six party talks. we also have ideas of our own just as our chinese counterparts do. we believe that we've got to rally around the cause of finding peaceful solution to this issue and the last question. thank you. >> thank you very much. mr. secretary, before these meetings, you said you believed russia was either incompetent or complicit in these chemical weapons attacks after your extensive meeting with vladimir putin and do you know which one that is and what concrete thing that is?

and minister, if i could indulge you to answer in english if you would, sir, president trump has called bashar al-assad an animal. this is the leader your government continues to back. can you tell us how long russia will be willing to risk the lives of its soldiers and send its money to protect him? >> with respect to russia's complicity or knowledge of chemical weapons attack, we have no firm information to indicate that there was any involvement by russian, russian forces into this attack. what we do know, and we have very firm and high confidence in our conclusion that the attack was planned and carried out by the regime forces at the direction of bashar al-assad. >> i can only say once again

that just for the so-called russian hackers and the chemical incidents in syria, we would very much like to get some concrete evidence, not just words. so far, we have not seen any facts. and let me highlight once again. in syria, we are acting at the request of the legitimate government of the country, which is a member of the united nations, this country is on the no sanctions of the un security council. we are acting there in order to fight terrorism. and it is in our interest to prevent from being engulfed by isis.

if you look at facts, however, the last 18 months, the coalition set up by the obama administration did almost nothing to achieve the objective that it had stated when being established. it had not followed consistently against the front for isis until the russian airspace forces were deployed in syria. and after those deployment of our forces, the u.s. coalition and the obama administration only performed strikes against certain posts held by isis, and it was always sparing the front. and we've got some suspicion we think that the front is spared to resort to plan b to

overthrow the assad regime with force. we know how this is going to end because we saw similar situations with libya and iraq. and the people will reprevail and learn from history. now, as for who is responsible for the crimes committed in syria, we've got to look into that. but as one american counterpart said, there will be time for everything. we've got to set priorities and recently, we've heard new priorities from washington saying that isis as priority number one and as mr. spicer has said, we have sources to defeat isis without doing anything to the assad regime. this is the same thing john kerry had told me. the u.s. administration here said -- was convinced that isis was a more serious threat and a more important objective than the assad regime.

so i think we think along the same lines. we have to see the common threat. they are apparent. and if we are to fight isis, if we are to emerge victorus from this fight without ousting the regime. when -- this is no guarantee that we're going to defeat isis on the country isis might emerge victorious. if we oust the regime, so we should be guided by common sense. thank you. not by emotion. colleagues, this is the end of the press conference. thank you for participating. thank you.

he called the russians out on a number of things on syria, he called the russians out on ukraine and on cyber attacks on us in our election season. welcome to the intelligence report. i'm joint joined on set for analysis of what we just saw by general jack keane. first of all, this was a big deal because rex tillerson was there alongside the russian foreign minister. what does that tell you? >> i thought he would see him even though he wanted to dramatize it a little bit. you can't have the new secretary of state in moscow and not see them by the have

of state. if there's anybody out there that have the capabilities of secretary of state get rid of that thought. because we have a strong secretary of state who is bad --dash make it very matter-of-fact. he was a boldfaced liar. and then y could see h squirming in a chair today. as tillerson was talking to him about where they are. there is absolutely nothing substantive coming out of here in terms of agreements or that. that is a singular agreement. that indicates indicates how bad the relationship truly is. is a good thing that we are talking to each other. what the message that were dealing with.

ukraine included in this whole process. so from the russians perspective why do they feel like they are at such a low? >> they wanted to keep playing that winning hand. and then i can to be able to do it. iraq, libya and the problems that we've have in egypt it was not for obama's policies. the thing that has happened here began to happen last week we never knew for sure where the trump administration was going to move in terms of america's global leadership. the historical traditional role that we've played where they cannot pull back and be more isolationist. that is over. the fact is america is reassuring the allies in the far east that we are going to exercise our global leadership role and we will have their back. we will protect america's interest and our allies

interest. that is a fact. it is no longer a debatable subject. with secretary tillerson going after him for the kind of barbarian that he is he wants them and there. going after him on ukraine he said, that the agreement for audience that may not be familiar with that the piece agreement that they have. they have never agreed to it. in fact agree to it on paper and tillerson said to them unless you abide by the accord pull your separate forces out of ukraine we will not well not be able to improve our relationship. that is a stunning comment. then he went right after him for the cyber attack and meddling with the u.s. election.

see what he put all of his cards on the table. he is very straightforward is blunt, this is what we expect this is where we stand and you could almost see the foreign minister feeling uncomfortable. it is a new day in a new age and where do you think our relationship is going i think there's opportunities for this relationship to improve but russia is in very good place in syria and that's the truth of it. they have a strengthen that regime. they may get rid of a sod at some point if he's a liability. >> i wonder if they were laying the ground today. is the investigation proves that he knew exactly what he was doing he created those

chemical this chemical weapons and use them on his people does it become a liability. they want to protect asad. it continues to be against general jack keane thank you so much. we will be right back after this. the alerian mlp etf can diversify your equity portfolio and add tential income. bring amlp into the game. before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. read the prospectus carefully at alpsfunds.com/amlp when they thought they should westart saving for retirement.le then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons

why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future. if we all start saving a little more today, we'll all be better prepared tomorrow. prudential. bring your challenges.

president trump tried to set his focus on health healthcare and tax reform.

i'm not a scene noticing in the last 90 days this is been for the last few years. there was an exclusive interview with our president and the former chairman of the dc democratic party. i have to tell you that one of the problems is over the last several years during the obama administration was that there was not enough reaching across the aisle. nobody could can work together to get anything done. he saw a real lack of economic policy as a result. that needs to change he's trying to change it both with healthcare and tax reform but yet we are as he points out

stuck in really bad spot. has the u.s. in your view got to the point where we are looking ungovernable? >> yes that's pretty much where we are. the system is broken. our political system is broken that's white trump got elected. with the democrats in the republican establishment and you have the freedom caucus. the republican party is divided. the unique thing about trump is that he doesn't fit neatly into any of those boxes. he's probably the one guy that can bring the factions together. see mike it has gotten so bogged down so now you have a guy who really doesn't fit any box very conveniently and as soon as you try to put them in a box there he is. we have the secretary secretary of state out there clean out the russians on everything including what has

been called the cyber attacks into our election. in other words does this make it different. can we be different this time around and doesn't that need to happen. he is talking to him for structure spending. donald trump has got to get to that. you use that as an example. with healthcare he didn't ask for the democratic leadership until after lost. they wanted to go it alone. if you want to talk to democrats about health care reform if to talk about fixing obama care but if you talk about replacing it in repealing it because barack obama's name is on it. then you have a permit --dash make a problem with the

democrats. let's keep it in i think you all want the same thing here. i think they made some mistakes and putting an artificial timeline in front of us. not beholden to anyone he does wants be successful. can he bridge this device. it's good to be awful difficult. they were under order not to cooperate with the trump uniquely trump because he

doesn't fit any of these labels he is the only one i think can bring a couple of factions together. i am a freedom caucus guy i think the odds are greater that trouble reach across the aisle and work with the democrats. he has the ability to do it. the dealmaking finesse just didn't get it. someone who is a man of action and to heck with the whole party system. good to have you here. new developments in the se of the passenger dragged off the plane. he is now lawyering up. we will show it to you. i will see you right here into.

my name is pam. i'm 51 years old. when i was diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia, it was huge for everybody. she just started to decline rapidly. i was rushed to the hospital... my symptoms were devastating. the doctor said, "pam! if you'd have waited two more days, you would've died." if i'd have known that a vaccine could have helped prevent this,

i would have asked my doctor or pharmacist about it. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly.

the one brand-new video today of what happened it for a passenger was forced off the plane on united airlines. >> know i'm not going. that is a passenger calmly telling the officers i am going. yet looks what happens moments later. he was forced off the plane is all bloodied. there's passengers at the start yelling and screaming. the ceo is finally admitting fault and finally apologizing but you know what the damage is done. join me right now partner and ceo fox news contributor. the whole world figured out pretty quickly that united screwed up in a major way in

the ceo held his ground telling employees he stood by the actions that happened is it too late at this point. where were you when actually happened? the world has changed. what's going on in social media and the way the public reacts to these things is very different from the way it used to. they were very slow to get to the right answer i don't thing that's ever too late but the damage becomes more severe because he waited so long to get to the right answer. the guy who started at lulu lulu lemon and blamed women for that yoga pants being see-through. that wound up costing him his job. they said you are out. you have to be incredibly careful with what they say. they can just blurt something out. he was probably trying to be careful with the initial e-mail and what he said. he was recognized as being the

kind of communicator that's really good with employees. his strength may also reveal a blind spot with customers. i think boards need to realize now that communication it's a hard skill and it's really important for ceos to be effective communicators and crisis situations. you can see it is still trading lower today not quite as bad as it sought yesterday. i was about two and half% down. continuing that downside toy. steve cortez what is the investing community think about this on. >> there hasn't been a lot of damage done to the stock just yet but that doesn't mean that there's not long-term's brand damage done for a long time they've used the song rhapsody in blue.

they might not fix that. if i was a shareholder which i'm not i would say were overbooked and we don't had room to you. we need you to give up your seat because we need new leadership. >> i think you're absolutely right. i think this will wind up costing him his job you will remember the pants that were trying to wear some leggings on board and they were told they could get on and then there was an incident where dr. was trying to save someone's life and said it united united did not had the basic things in its first aid kit. all of this stuff starts to add up as you look at that poor man getting pulled up i think you can all feel for him because we all hate flying. we been in some kind of similar situations.

michael, and steve thank you very much. there is more coming up. it's all part of a strategy to make government lean and mean and today he's laying the groundwork for reorganization. where asking him what his agency is doing about it. that's coming up next. through hair club.

i walked in with a bald spot, and that same day, walked out with a full head of hair. just call or go online now to receive your free information kit and dvd at no obligation. you'll hear more about our full range of solutions, including exclusive non-surgical xtrands and xtrands pl. now i look in the mirror and i just can't believe that's me. this is my hair, and it feels great. it feels natural. it's growing. it's strong. i leave my house.

i'm not thinking, "oh, how does my hair look? i know it looks good. [ nemeth ] this was me before going to hair club, and this was me by the end of my visit. the moment you see yourself with hair again, you'll wish you'd done it sooner. call and set up your free hair analysis at a hair club near you. ♪ ♪ trish: the president proposed spending cuts him to make washington more efficient and these cuts include slashing the budget of the epa. recently it signed an executive order rolling back that made it difficult for businesses to operate in the united states.

all of this reorganization at the epa. scott pruitt. it's good to have you here. i can't imagine you are so popular among some of the rank-and-file right now. you're talking about an organizational shift and one in the mindset. i really like the way you put it. when you look at the last eight years. washington has become so central and so consequential in the lives of farmers and ranchers. literally the first stop for permanent authority for the ability to actually build an economy is washington dc. this reorganization is terribly important. natural gas and coal. the approach is we develop the

natural resources about to source but to source the sensitivity. before the environment first business later. and now you trying to put the two and focused. they have to choose. choose between jobs in the end of the environment. and as it's a choice. we've always been able to develop our economy and take care of her natural resources. we've have a 65% reduction in those air pollutants that matter across the country the same time growing our economy. i think it represented a false choice to american people. we can do both. we can be sensitive and protect our environment. just think strategically from an international perspective as well. >> that we have an energy independence.

why do we want to rely on the middle east? he was at the epa. he and the vice president came and signed an executive order that cedric the organ be about energy independence. the war on one sector. the fossil fuel sector. see what the problem is i got it breathing down my back. are you going to change that while still being mindful that working have a great country and we have many great places and great resources and we need to protect what's here. when we talk about regulatory overreach. sometimes people interpret that as no regulation. that's not what regulatory overreach really equals.

the washington dc they're using power to pick winners and losers. that type of regulation is over. >> think you so much. i will see you next. yes? please repeat the objective. ♪ thrivent mutual funds. managed by humans, not robots. before investing, carefully read and consider fund objectives, risks, charges and expenses in the prospectus at thriventfunds.com.

that's it for me. >> where watching markets very closely because we are seeing a little bit of retracement here. this is with the other i were watching were to bring you the pictures as soon as we have them of the arrival. they are coming among the backs -- backdrop in the wake of the united states airstrike on the syrian airfield in response to the asad regime.